T-Shirt Giveaway to Highlight Volleyball Senior Night Festivities

The first 500 students to attend Saturday's volleyball match versus Radford will receive a free t-shirt featuring the above design.

To help celebrate the Lady Flames' school-record 13-match volleyball winning streak, the Liberty University Athletics Department will be giving out special "Sweeping the Competition" t-shirts to the first 500 students who attend this Saturday's home match against Radford, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Vines Center.

The Lady Flames, 23-7 overall and 10-1 in the Big South, will have a chance to claim at least a share of the Big South regular-season title with a victory over the Highlanders. The match, Liberty's last of the regular season, will serve as Senior Night. Lady Flames Lara Bartolomeo, Mary Alice Pike and Alysson Sanders will be honored prior to the contest.

After the close of Saturday evening's competition, seeding and pairings will be set for the Big South Volleyball Championship, which will be held at the Vines Center for the first time since 2001. The tournament will open with a trio of first-round matches on Nov. 15, continue with two semifinal tilts on Nov. 16 and wrap up with the Big South championship match at 4 p.m. on Nov. 17.

How to Follow the Lady Flames Live stats will be available for Saturday's match against Radford. They are accessible by clicking "Live Stats" on the volleyball schedule/results page of LibertyFlames.com, or by clicking here.

The match will be broadcast on the Liberty Channel, by the announcing team of Ray Jones and Lee Beaumont. The Liberty Channel feed will also be available via the Big South EDGE, for a cost of $4.95 per match. Click here for more information on the EDGE, or click "Live Video" on the volleyball schedule/results page.

A Look at Liberty Liberty, coached by Shane Pinder (55-66 in his fourth season), won three matches in five days to set a new school record with a 13-match winning streak. The Lady Flames dropped their opening game at Presbyterian last Friday, but rebounded to win the next three stanzas and have won 39 of their last 40 games overall.

Bartolomeo, a senior libero/defensive specialist, is the first of three graduating Lady Flames who will be recognized Saturday. She is leaving her name in the Liberty record book, as she is one of four Lady Flames who have ever recorded 1,500 digs. Bartolomeo, who leads the squad with 463 digs this season, has 1,535 for her career. When she records four more digs, she will move into fifth place on the Liberty single-season digs list.

Pike, a senior right-side hitter, has provided Pinder another viable attacking option this year. Her all-around ability was on display during a Sept. 15 victory over Binghamton, when Pike contributed eight kills, 10 assists, 11 digs, three aces and three blocks. Last season, she ranked second on the team with 258 kills and was named Big South Player of the Week on Sept. 18.

Sanders, a redshirt junior outside hitter, is playing her final season with the Lady Flames, as she will graduate with a degree in kinesiology this May. One of seven Liberty players to go over 100 kills this season, Sanders has posted an even 150 kills entering the weekend. She notched a career-best 20 kills in the Lady Flames' Sept. 15 triumph over William & Mary. A season ago, Sanders was the team leader with 280 kills.

Climbing up the Rankings Corbin has been steadily moving upward on the national list for assists per game. She is averaging 12.69 apg, and ranks No. 29 nationally in the category. The sophomore is over halfway (2,444 career assists) to Michelle Howland's Liberty career record of 4,873 assists and needs 56 assists to reach the 2,500 plateau.

Home-Court Advantage Liberty's 3-0 sweep of North Carolina Central on Tuesday night marked the Lady Flames' eighth-consecutive win at the Vines Center. Liberty is 10-2 at home this season.

Record Streaks Liberty's 13-match winning streak broke the program record of 12-consecutive triumphs, which was previously owned by the 1987 Lady Flames, under head coach Sue Kelly.

Junior middle blocker Ashley Webber had a hand in two blocks on Tuesday against North Carolina Central, boosting her season total to 107 blocks. With the performance, Webber eclipsed the Liberty single-season record for blocks under the rally scoring format, previously held by Erin McKeown.

By the time the year is completed, the Liberty single-season rally scoring record lists will look a lot different than they did at the outset of the season. Below is an up-to-date glance at each of the lists.

Updated RPI Rankings Liberty is listed No. 93 in the latest RPI rankings, officially released by the NCAA on Wednesday, marking a season high. The Lady Flames rank seventh among East Region squads.

Best in the Big South Liberty leads the Big South Conference in six out of seven team statistical categories. The Lady Flames top the conference in attack percentage (.233), opponent hitting percentage (.147), assists (14.79 apg), kills (16.27 kpg), blocks (2.32 bpg) and digs (19.68 dpg).

Individually, five Lady Flames rank in the top five of Big South statistical categories, highlighted by Corbin, who leads the conference with 12.69 assists per game and is third with 0.39 aces per game.

Both of Liberty's starting middle blockers rank second in their respective categories, as Chelaine McCarty is second in attack percentage at .338 and Ashley Webber is second with 0.99 blocks per game. Webber also sits fourth in attack percentage, hitting at a .293 clip.

Scripko resides in fifth place for attack percentage, at .288, while Bartolomeo ranks fifth with 4.37 digs per stanza.

Scouting ReportsRadford The Radford Highlanders are coached by Crystal Poskey, who is 17-42 in her second season at the helm. The Highlanders are 8-23 overall and 3-8 in the Big South this season and have wrapped up the No. 5 seed for the Big South Volleyball Championship.

The Highlanders will try to get back on track entering the conference tournament, after dropping their last six matches. Radford's most recent victory was a 3-2 decision at Charleston Southern on Oct. 20.

Senior Josie Hanners and freshman Kiley Kent have split time at setter this season, and both possess powerful serves as well. Kent ranks second in the conference with 0.39 assists per game, and Hanners follows closely behind in fourth.

Junior outside hitter Lindsey Poole, a preseason all-conference honoree, paces Radford with 293 kills on the season. Classmate Melinda Clelland has tallied 94 blocks and is fourth in the Big South in the category.

Liberty has won 12 matches in a row against Radford, since losing a five-game contest to the Highlanders at the Vines Center on Nov. 6, 2001. The streak has enabled the Lady Flames to claim a 29-25 edge in the all-time head-to-head series.

The two squads opened the Big South schedule against each other on Sept. 22, at the Dedmon Center. Liberty pulled out a 3-1 decision in the contest, led by McCarty, who hit .515 with a career-best 19 kills on her way to Big South Player of the Week laurels. Radford was sparked by Poole, who ended up with a match-high 24 kills and a .327 attack percentage.